Nintendo Trinity on the Wii

Last month’s release of Super Mario Party saw the completion of the latest generation of Nintendo’s flagship titles for it’s newest console system: the Wii. Along with the release title of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and this August’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Mario, Link, and Samus are all present on the Wii and in three of the most amazing games. Ever.

To be honest, I’ve not gotten too far in any of the games, having had the time and energy to only put a few hours into each one1. I have gotten fairly far in each and have played them enough each to comment on just how amazing each is.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was, of course, a launch game (and, like Super Paper Mario, a Gamecube port). In an admission of my lack of commitment to gaming, I still haven’t finished the game. All the same, it remains to be a wonderfully fun game and probably one of the best of the Zelda series. The control scheme is possibly the least like senseless waggling of the Wiimote of any Wii game yet. The spatial motions seem to make sense, which is good because there are quite a lot of moves to master in the game. Like almost all of the modern Nintendo games, this one has a great and intense story. This really draws the player in, but doesn’t really allow for casual gaming. As much as I wanted friends to be able to jump in and play around to see how great it was, this just isn’t a game and story that allows for this sort of thing. This game is an epic novel that rewards attention, time, and dedication; much the opposite of many Wii games.

As for Metroid Prme 3: Corruption, I am not really a fan of — nor particularly good at — first person shooter games2. But I mean wow. This game is so much fun due to its perfect balance of shooting action, exploration, and puzzle solving. It isn’t particularly difficult to explore and complete most of the tasks but I can imagine that to be truly fast and efficient this game would require a lot more skill than I have. Efficiency is something that the Metroid series has traditionally rewarded and I suspect that MP3 has that aspect in it. Also, this game really captures a lot of the exploration and back-track elements of the old-school Metroid games. In spite of the lesser horsepower in the diminutive Wii when compared to other 5th generation consoles and PCs, this game has beautiful visuals and amazing detail. I believe that this represents the greatest first-person shooter ever created.

The delayed Super Mario Galaxy was probably one of the most anticipated Wii games since the console’s release over a year ago. Having not had much desire to play many of the 3D Mario games, I found myself pleasantly surprised by this game. The controls and camera angles make playing the game very natural. Galaxy has some of the same nods to Mario games of the past that Super Paper Mario does, and even much of it’s humor (though with a few less cracks in the fourth wall).

These games represent the quintessential set on the Wii with respect to Nintendo’s heritage. Of course, you still have to consider Wii Sports as an important Wii game for its demonstration of the control mechanisms. However, the three games above, represent Nintendo’s advanced story-telling in combination with the innovative controls, as well as paying tribute to the characters that put Nintendo on the map.

I had considered writing this article months ago, including Super Paper Mario as part of the big N Wii trinity; a game that I’ve come withing about ten minutes of beating (pathetic, huh?). However, SPM is kind of a platform/rpg hybrid and was seen as being outside of the true Mario legacy. That being said, it is an amazing game and loads of fun. Also, it could be argued that the Metroid Prime series of games aren’t really full-on Metroid games, either. Me, I’m just interested in some really great games, so I’ll not be too picky.↵

Although, I must admit that Bioshock and Portal look great and Halo 3 almost makes me consider buying a 360 – (but not really). I still can’t think of any reason other than "cheap Blu-Ray player" to want a PS3↵